Plot

Set in the 1930s Arab states at the dawn of the oil boom, the story centers on a young Arab prince torn between allegiance to his conservative father and his modern, liberal father-in-law.

In early-20th-century Arabia, Emir Nesib of Hobeika defeats Sultan Amar of Salma after years of war between their tribes and they make a peace treaty that creates "The Yellow Belt," a large no-man's-land that would separate their lands and would belong to neither of them. Further, Nesib demands that Amar's sons, Saleh and Auda, be raise with his children, Tarik and Leyla, in Hobeika as a guarantee of their agreement. 15 years later, representatives of the Texas Oil find oil in the Yellow Belt and the modern and liberal Emir Nesib sees the opportunity to improve and modernize the life of his tribe, building hospitals and schools, and the American Company begins the exploitation of the oil field, violating the peace pact. Nasib sends a representative to make an agreement with the fundamentalist Sultan Amar, but he rejects the offer. Saleh decides to travel to Salma to talk to his father and kills his two companions, but he is captured and murdered by Tarik. Prince Auda and Princess Leyla, who have been in love with each other since childhood, get married with the full permission of Nesib. Auda travels to Salma expecting to convince his father to associate to Nesib, but the conservative Amar rejects the proposal and decides to fight against Nesib. Now, Prince Auda shall decide on which side he will fight.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It is early 20th century, in the 1930s. The movie opens with a truce after internecine fighting between two Arab chieftains, namely Emir Nesib and Sultan Amar. The peace pact entails that Sultan Amar hand over his two sons, Auda and Saleh in custody of Emir Nesib for fifteen years. Meanwhile, the American Company - Texas Oil is exploring for oil in Arabia. A Texas Oil officer approaches Emir Nesib about the prospects of rigging crude oil and changing the lot of his people by the immense riches gained by oil wealth. The liberal and progressive Emir gives his permission for oil rigging to American company and breaks the peace accord reached with Sultan Amar that the Yellow Belt will remain a No man land bordering their fiefdoms. This violation of the pact perturbed Sultan Amar who is conservative and does not approve of the exploitation of their natural resources by Americans. In order to appease the matter, Emir Nesib sends a delegation headed by prince Auda to convince Sultan Amar (his father) not to oppose oil rigging operations in the Yellow Belt as it brings wealth to them and they can build hospitals, schools and other infrastructure bringing prosperity to their region. But the orthodox and conservative courtiers of Sultan Amar would not listen to the soft spoken Prince Auda.

In the meanwhile, prince Saleh asserts to aggressively joining his father, Sultan Amar and kills his two companions on the way while he was fleeing to his father's camp. But Saleh was intercepted by Emir Nesib's son Tariq who ruthlessly shoots Saleh dead. Other contending factions from Arabia join forces with Sultan Amar to avenge Saleh's killing and oust the American oil company. In the midst of this mayhem, prince Auda made his best effort to appease both sides but to no avail. He loves his wife Leyla who is daughter of Emir Nesib and he wants to strike a balance between his rigid father and liberal progressive father in law.

Amid all this fighting the situation turns ugly when one of the overlords envisaging a detente between prince Auda and Sultan Amar, shoots from a distance and kills the Sultan. Heavy fighting erupts between the two camps and the warlord was about to kill prince Auda when a slave girl kills the warlord by stabbing him in the back. Prince Auda survives all wounds and ordeals. Auda returns to Emir Nesib who treated him respectably and prince Auda suggests his father in law to act as an chair in the board of Texas Oil overseeing the interests of their country. While princess Leyla brings happy news of her pregnancy to Auda who is thrilled and humbled.